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Bitsy Farnsworth, a 31-year resident of the Harbor View neighborhood in Norwalk, abandoned ship and went to her daughter's house on the top of Quintard Avenue Saturday afternoon as Hurricane Irene approached.

"I have some pictures of Shorefront Park from up there with water flooding every single street and steadily rising. It was really eerie to watch," Farnsworth told the Citizen on Tuesday as the city continued its cleanup efforts following tropical storm Irene.

Approximately 52 percent of Norwalk residents were without power on Monday after Irene tore through the area.

Farnsworth returned to her house Sunday afternoon to find the entire neighborhood covered in "lettuce-like seaweed."

"It was everywhere," she said. "The water tore through Harbor View, over all the seawalls, rushed to the street and deposited the seaweed wherever it could. We've had two dumpsters already that were filled to the brim and hauled away."

Farnsworth said she also saw pictures that her neighbor took during the storm.

"I'm glad I wasn't there. I would have been out of my mind. I have never seen such waves...and I was only seeing photographs of the waves. Unbelievable. It was the worst I've ever seen. I heard someone else say that as well."

However Farnsworth said

While there were certainly houses that were damaged none were severely battered and only a couple trees came down.

"The water was not as high as the Nor'easter of 1992. Since it was a Nor'easter it stayed around for a few days. Dec. 11, 1992 is a day that will live in infamy around here."

While Farnsworth's power was restored late Sunday evening, the Rowayton Library was still without power at press time on Wednesday.

Cynthia Johnson, director of the Rowayton Library and a Rowayton resident, described the scene Sunday.

"It was amazing to see people boating along Rowayton Avenue as the streets were flooded. And for a while, with all the downed trees and wires blocking the roads, it felt like Rowayton was no longer a peninsula, but an island, and that there was no escape," Johnson said via e-mail.

She continued, "Everyone has seen South Beach and the loss of the seawall on Bell Island and the debris from being underwater is everywhere. It's like a fine coating of silt and pine needles everywhere.

"It is just amazing to see all the really large trees downed or uprooted. All I can say is that it seems that lives and houses were spared--thank goodness."

"We are fortunate that the rain was less than they originally predicted--they were talking about as much as 10 inches. We probably got five to seven inches. And the winds, while obviously they did a lot a damage at 70 and 80 miles per hour, at least we didn't get 90 to 100 mile an hour winds," Moccia told the Citizen Monday.

He praised the city's Emergency Management Team, which includes Michele DeLuca, and the heads of the Norwalk Police and Fire Departments.

"The department heads, first responders and members of the Red Cross we put together over the last few years were fantastic--the communication between everyone. Everyone knew what they had to do," Moccia said.

"Someone asked, `How would you grade the response to the storm?' And I said no one gets an A with a tropical storm because it is impossible to be perfect. But I will tell you what they did, and how they performed, was a B+."

Thanks to the Emergency Management Team, the emergency shelter set up at Brien McMahon High School also ran smoothly. Approximately 150 residents, some with pets, used the shelter. Some were from the Washington Village Complex on Water Street, which is notorious for flooding. Transportation was provided for residents who needed it.

Shelter manager Mark D'Andrea from the American Red Cross and other volunteers from the Red Cross and the Emergency Management Team set up cots for people, fed them a pizza dinner and provided coffee, juices and blankets Saturday evening. People left the shelter by Sunday evening.

"It is really quite inspiring to see the Red Cross volunteers who are willing to spend their time in support of this community effort," Tad Diesel, the city's director of marketing and business development, said Saturday evening after people started checking in to the emergency shelter.

"I am pleasantly surprised that people took advantage of it and didn't put themselves at risk," Moccia said.

Moccia empathized with people's frustrations about not having power but pointed out that he has no control over CL&P.

"All we can do is try to keep pressure on CL&P and make sure they are keeping the crews out there. And ask for updates as much as possible," Moccia said. "We have a liaison with CL&P, and my prime concern right now is that CL&P's work crew coordinates with our DPW crew where there are trees and lines down. Because obviously our DPW crew cannot remove a tree if there is a live wire near it. They send their crew to de-energize and then our people can remove the tree, so at least the road is open."

Moccia expected all power to be restored by the end of the week.

The first day of school, which was supposed to be Wednesday, is now slated for Sept. 6.

Moccia also praised residents who are pitching in and cleaning up the streets and not waiting for the city to do it.

The mayor is not as happy with residents who tried to get onto the beach when it was closed (it was closed until Wednesday afternoon) or who were wading in the water of flooded streets Sunday.

"I'm not sure what it is going to take to get the message across to people sometimes. I keep seeing pictures of people walking in the water on their street, smiling and laughing. But a power line can come down any time," said.

"The beach was closed and we actually had people park outside and walk in. We had payloaders there removing trees and people were there with little kids running around. We had to get the cops there to enforce that the beach was closed."

In anticipation of the FEMA declaration process city crews have begun damage assessments of city property and are tracking staffing allocations and expenses related to storm response.

Moccia said Tropical Storm Irene was as bad as Hurricane Gloria in 1985 as far as overall flooding in Norwalk. But the city lost more trees to the storm that rocked the area in March of 2010.

"We are keeping track of all this overtime and expenses because FEMA will come in....When we had that storm in March of 2010 and all the trees came down we received $400,000 in reimbursement from FEMA. We keep very good records and it will probably be more this time....We will do whatever we can do over the next few days to make it easier for the citizens of Norwalk."

In the wake of an earthquake and a hurricane within days of eachother, Moccia is looking ahead to brighter days--specifically the weekend of Sept. 9 when the Norwalk Seaport Association's Oyster Fest gets underway at Veteran's Park.

"Vets Park dried out pretty quickly when the water receded. In the next couple of days with the nice weather expected, we should be able to begin to start the setup. I shudder to think what would have happened if this storm came later and those tents were already up."